Door-mounting for a mirror



ec. 21, 1965 J. MAGGIORE 3,224,715

DOOR-MOUNTING FOR A MIRROR Filed Jan. 20, 1964 FIG.6

INVENTOR JOSEPH MAGGIORE 3,224,715 Patented Dec. 21, 1965 3,224,715DOR-MOUNTING FOR A MIRROR Joseph Maggiore, 8300 Mena Ave., Norfolk, Va.Fiied Jan. 20, 1964, Sex. No. 339,016 11 Claims. (Cl. 248 29) Thisinvention relates to door-mounting for mirrors, and more particularly todevices and methods for supporting or faciiitating the mounting ofminors upon doors.

Doors have been wideiy used to support mirrors in bedrooms or bathrooms,for example, because they provide convenient avaiiable space, becausethey may be removed to facilitate mounting of the mirror, and becausethey avoid the problem of placing wali anchors in piaster Walis. Themirrors usuaily employed are of thick plate giass, frequentiy fulllength, and are usualiy heavy, weighing twenty-five, thirty pounds ormore. The mounting of a large minor upon a door is often a two-manoperation, it being common practice for one person to hold the minor inposition upon the door whiie another secures mounting brackets to thedoor by means of screws. To faciiitate mounting of the mirror it isoften recommended that the door be removed from its hinges and piaced ina horizontal position while the mirror is located on and mounted uponthe door. While this prooedure alieviates the problem of supporting theWeight of the mirror during mounting, there remains the cumbersome taskof removing the door and then replacing the door with the added Weightof the minor.

The screw-type brackets commonly employed in the mounting of mirrorsupon doors must be carefully appiied, because too much screw pressuremay crack the mirror, particularly if the door is warped or uneven.Hoilow-core and recessed panel doors create special problems whenattempts are made to mount mirrors of different size by the use ofscrew-type brackets. Moreover, lease restrictions frequentiy prohibitthe driliing of hoies in doors. Even in the absence of such restrictionshouseholders are reiuctant to deface a door by the driiiing of holes. Ifthe minor is ever removed or transfened to a difierent door, theremaining holes are unsightiy.

It has heretofore been proposed to mount garment hangers and simiiaritems upon doors by the use of a book which fits over the top edge ofthe door. Indeed, it has been proposed to mount a minor upon a door bymeans of an elaborate assembiage of verticai and horizontai rods,brackets, hooks, nuts, and bolts which are nltimateiy supported by thetop and bottom edges of the door. However, it has not heretofore beenpossibie to mount a minor upon a door in a simple, economicai,eificient, and expeditious manner. It is accordingly a principai objectof the invention to provide for such mountmg.

Another object of the invention is to provide a minor hanger which isformed from a single piece of material, which is =sturdy yetlightweight, which requires no driiling of holes, which is neat inappearance, and which may readily be made so as to accommodate difrerenttypes of doors and dfierent types of minors.

Another object of the invention is to provide a minor hanger whichpermits a housewife to remove a minor from its shipping carton and tomount the minor upon a door in less than a minute.

Stili another object of the invention is to provide a mirror hangerwhich avoids the need for removal of the door from its hinges.

Ari additional object of the invention is to provide a minor hangerwhich may be utiiized with ali of the standard door mirrors regardiessof their Width.

A stili further object. of the invention is to provide a minor hangerwhich perrnits the mirror to be removed from the door almost instantiy,without leaving the door defaced, and which permits the ready transferof a minor from one door to another.

A stili further object of the invention is to provide a minor hangerwhich actuaily utiiizes the weight of the minor to ensure properoperation of the hanger whiie promoting economy of hanger construction.

An additional object of the invention is to provide for the hanging of aminor upon a door with an air space between the back of the minor andthe opposing surface of the door, so as to avoid condensation probiemsin bathrooms, for exampie.

It is aiso an object of the invention to provide methods of mountingmirrors upon doors or the iike in accordance with the foregoing purposesof the invention.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a device forfaciiitating the mounting of a minor upon a door when it is desired toutiiize screw-type or other conventionai mounting brackets.

Stili another object of the invention is to provide a method forfaciiitating the mounting of a minor by means of screw-type or otherconventional brackets.

Briefly stated, and withont intent to limit its scope,the presentinvention in one embodiment utiiizes an clongated, unitary flat stripformed with a hook at its top adapted to fit over the top edge of a doorand having tabs located to engage the top and bottom edges of the minorwhen the strip is placed longitudinaiiy and centrally at the back of theminor. Pressure-sensitive adhesive is employed to secure the back of themirror to the opposing surface of the door, and adhesive-faced tapes arepreferabiy employed to enhance the attachment of the strip to the backof the minor. In another embodiment an elongated flat strip having thesarne type of hook at the top is provided with a tab or shelf extendingtoward the door, so that a minor may be supported upon the shelf withthe strip at the front of the mirror, while conventional screw-typebrackets are iocated upon and secured to the door.

The foregoing and other objects, advantages, and features of theinvention, and the manner in which the same are accomplished Will becomemore readily apparent upon consideration of the foiiowing detaileddescription of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, which iiiustrates preferred and exemplary embodimentsof the invention, and Wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view illustrating a minor mounted upon a doorin accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a contracted perspective view illustrating a preferred formof minor hanger in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view iiiustrating the manner in which thehangar is applied to the minor and illustrating the use of adhesive forattaching the mirror to the door and attaching the hanger to the mirror;

FIGURE 4 is a side eievation view illustrating the manner in which theminor and hanger are appiied to the door;

FIGURE 5 is a side eievation view of a jig device which may be employedto support a minor in order to faciiitate the mounting of the minor upona door by means of conventionai hangers; and

FIGURE 6 is a front elevation view iliustrating a mirror supported uponthe door by means of the jig of FIG- URE 5.

Refening to the drawing, and initialiy to FIGURE 2 thereof, referencenumerati 10 designates a prefened mirror hanger in accordance with theinvention, which in the form shown is constituted by a single,continuous, elongated flat strip, preferabiy of somewhat flexible sheetmetal, such as steel of the order of eighteen to twentytwo gauge inthickness. The top of the strip is formed with a -rectangular hook 12adapted to fit over the top edge of a door. The lowermost portion 14 ofthe hook may diverge slightly, as shown, to facilitate placement of thehook over the door With the hanger diverging from the door. The top 16of the hook is made wide enough to accommodate a conventional door Withwhich the device is to be used. The thickness of the strip material, andhence its flexibility, must be chosen so that the hook is suficientlyrigid to avoid deformation under the mirror load and yet is thin enoughto fit over the top of the door without creating clearance problems Withrespect to the cap of the door frame. The use of relatively thinmaterial is economical, and as Will appear hereinafter, the weight ofthe mirror tends to pull the strip taut. The strip need not be undulywide, typically being of the order of two inches wide, but should bewide enough for lateral stability of the mirror. The length of the stripis determined by the height of the mirror to be employed therewith.Typically the overall length of the strip may be about seventy-fourinches for use With a mirror having a height of sixty inches.

At locations corresponding to the top and bottom edges of the mirror thehanger strip is formed With tabs 18 and 20, which may be struck from thematerial of the strip by conventional punching and bending techniques.At least the upper tabs 18 are preferably formed as a pair of tabs atapposite sides of a central bar 22 defined by notches 24, which resultfrom the formation of the tabs. In the form shown the lower tabs 20 aresimilarly formed as a pair of tabs on opposite sides of a central bar 26defined by notches 28. The tabs extend laterafly from the strip in adirection opposite to the top 16 of the hook 12 and eXtend downwardly orupwardly to embrace the corresponding edges of the mirror. The strip maybe provided With knock-outs 30 at the top 16 of the hook, at bar 22, andat bar 26, so that the strip may be screwed to a door if desired, but inaccordance With the preferred embodiment of the invention theseknock-outs are not employed, because no screws are necessary. If it isnot desired to provide a knock-out at the bottom of the strip, tabs 20may be formed as a single tab extending the full Width of the strip, andbar 26 may be eliminated.

In the condition shown in FIGURE 2, the downwardly and upwardly turnedends of the tabs are not parallel to the strip, so that a mirror may beslipped edge-wise between the opposed tabs, and then the tabs may bepressed down against the front face of the mirror to secure the hangerthereto. While this may be done just prior to installation of themirror, it is preferred that the hanger be assembled With the mirrorprior to sale to the consumer, so that the consumer may remove themirror from its shipping carton With the hanger already attached to themirror, thereby greatly reducing the time and elfort required to mountthe mirror. The lateral excursion of the tabs depends upon the thicknessof the mirror to be employed therewith. A mirror of any reasonable Widthmay be employed with a hanger of the type shown, the Width of the mirrorbeing independent of the Width of the hanger.

FIGURE 3 illustrates the placement of the hanger upon a mirror 31. Thehanger is located longitudinally and centrally of the mirror at itsback. While the weight of the mirror tends to pull the hanger striptaut, the strip may be secured to the back of the mirror at spacedlocations along its length by the use of pieces of inexpensiveadhesive-faced tape 32 placed transversely over the back of the stripand secured to the strip and to the laterally adjacent portions of themirror back. Any suitable tape, such as pressure-sensitive cellophane ormasling tape may be employed for this purpose.

T avoid the need for screws and yet to ensure that the mirror is heldtightly against the door, the present invention utilizespressure-sensitive adhesive between the back of the mirror and theopposing surface of the door. Such adhesive preferably takes the form ofa permanently pliable, permanently tacky adhesive material, such as theall-purpose Weatherstrip sold under the trademark Mortite by the MortellCompany of Kankakee, Illinois. Small masses of such material may beplaced upon the back of the mirror as shown at 34, the spaced locationsof the adhesive being selected to ensure firrn adherence of the mirrorto the door. The location of the masses of adhesive 34 should bepreselected to accommodate recessed panel doors, but additional adhesivematerial may be provided in the shipping carton for special situations.T0 protect the adhesive during shipping, loops of masking tape or thelike (not shown) may be placed over the adhesive protuberances.

T0 install the mirror upon a door 35, the protective coverings areremoved from the masses of adhesive 34, and additional masses ofadhesive are placed upon the back of the mirror if required by theconfiguration of the door panels. The top of the hanger is then hookedover the top edge of the open door as shown in FIGURE 4, the back of themirror being held divergently away from the door until the desiredlateral and vertical position of the mirror on the door is ensured. Thedivergence of the bottom of the hook and the flexibility of the hangerpermit ease of engagement of the hook over the door even With the mirrorheld away from the door. Then the door is closed and the mirror ispressed tightly against the door, pressure being exerted over each ofthe adhesive areas to ensure firm attachment to the door surface. Themounted mirror appears as in FIGURE l, wherein it is seen that thelength of the hanger strip between the hook and the upper tabs ispredetermined for proper vertical placement of the mirror on the door.Screws may be inserted in the places provided by the knock-outs 30, buta mirror hung in accordance Wh the invention is securely and firmly heldwithout screws. Repeated slamming of the door Will not loosen themirror. If vertical displacement of the mirror is likely, because of theactivities of chliclren, for example, screws may be placed through thetop 16 of the hook 12, Where there is no problem of screw retention orvisible defacement.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that a mirror can bemounted simply and expeditiously in aocordance With the invention. Evenrelatively heavy door mirrors can be mounted by a housewife. Moreover,the mirror may be removed or transferred to another door simply bygrasping the edges of the mirror adjacent its bottom and pulling themirror progressively away from the door so as to flex the hanger,finally lifting the hook from the top of the door and placing it uponthe top of another door. Most of the adhesive material 34 will adhere tothe back of the mirror When the mirror is removed, but any rema-iningtraces may be removed by light application of a solvent such as lighterfluid.

The simplicity of the mirror hanger of the invention makes economicallyfeasible the provision of a hanger which may be secured to the mirror bythe manufacturer. The use of the adhesive masses 34 has an additionaladvantage in that a slight air space is provided between the mirror andthe door, thereby to obviate condensation problems in bathrooms, forexample. The neatness of the appearance of the mirror hanger is evidentfrom its minimal exp0sure to view.

FIGURES 5 and 6 illustrate a different concept, wherein a mirror hangeris employed as a jig to facilitate the attachment of a mirror to a doorby conventional means. Jig 36 is a flat strip of material, preferablysomewhat flexible sheet metal, formed With a hook 38 at the top and ashelf or tab 40 at the bottom. It Will be noted that the shelf extendslaterally from the strip in the same direction as the top of the hook,that is, toward the door in use. T0 employ the jig of the invention, themirror 39 is piaced face up on a horizontal surface, and the jig isplaoed iongitudinally and centrally against the front facc of themirror, With the shelf 40 extending under the lower edge of the minor.Strips 42 of adhesive-faccd material, such as masking tape, are thenplaced across the jig so as to adhcre to -tbe jig and tbc aterailyadjacent regions of the minor surface. The minor with the jig attachedis then 1ifted, and the hook 38 is piaced ovcr tbe top edge of the opendoor 41. The door may then be cioscd to stabiiisc the minor during theattacbment process which follows. This process may include the locatingand fixing of the usual screwtype minor brackets at the top, bottom, andside edges of tbc minor. After the mirror is secureiy fastcned to thedoor, strips 42 are peeled ofl, shelf 40 is Withdrawn from the bottomccigc of the mirror, and the book 38 is lifted from the top edge of theopen door. t is apparent that by the empioyment of the jig 36 and thecorresponding method of supporting the mirror during mounting, -ahousewife may mount a minor upon a door without assistance.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been showrr anddescribed, it wiii be apparent to those skiiied in the art that cbangescan be made in these embodimcnts without dcparting from the principies3nd spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in theappended ciaims. Accorciingly, the foregoing embodiments are to beconsidered illustrative, rather than restrictive of the invention, andthose modifications which come Within the mcaning and range ofequivalency of the ciaims are to be inciudcd therein.

The invention ciaimed is:

1. The method of supporting a minor upon a door, comprising placingagainst the bzxck of the mirror a flat strip having a hook at the topend and having spaced tabs, engaging said tabs over tbe top and bottoniedges of the mirror, placing adhesive between the baci; of the mirrorand the opposing surface of the door, piacing said hook over the top ofsaid door, and pressing said adhesive between the mirror and the door.

2. The method of claim 1, in which said strip is also attached to saidminor by means of adhesive placed at locations along said strip.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said strip is flcxi b1e and said hookhas a divergcnt cntrance, said hook being piaced over said door Withsaid strip flexed away from the side of the door.

In the method of mounting a minor upon a door by means of an clongatedstrip jig having a hook at the top and a she1f at the bottom extendinglaterally in the same direction as the hook, the steps of supporting thebottom edge of said minor upon said shelf, With the strip extendingalong the front minor tace, hanging said hook ovcr the top edge of saiddoor, affixing said minor to said door by means indcpendent of said jig,and removing said jig by Withdrawing the shelf from the bottom edge ofsaid minor and then the hook from the top edge of the door.

5. The mcthod of claim 4, said strip being temporarily attached to saidminor by applying removable pressuresensitive adhesive before said minorand said jig are hung upon said door.

6. In combination With a minor to be hung upon a vertical surface, aflat, Wide strip extending vertically and centrally along the back ofsaid minor, said strip having tabs engaging the top and bottom edges ofthe minor, and having means for suspending it upon said verticaisurface, and a piurality of masses of pressurc-sensitivc permancntiytacky adhesive at spaced iocations on the baci: of said minor forholding said minor against said surace.

7. The combination of ciaim 6, wherein said strip is fiexible sheetmetal having a iength of the order of several test, a Width of the orderof two inchcs, and a thickness of tbe order of cightesn to twenty-tvvogauge, said mcans tor suspending said strip comprising adivergcnt-cntrance, rectanguiar hook at the top of said strip andadapted to fit over the top of a door.

8. The combination of ciaim 7, furtber comprising a plurality of piccesof adbesive-iaced tape extending across said strip at spaced locationsalong its iength and adbered to tbe baci; of said minor at oppositesides of the strip.

9. A method of hanging a minor upon a vertical surface, which compriscssupporting the Weight of the minor upon a flat, wide, vertical striplocatcd centraily on the back of the mirror, having tabs engaged overthe top and bottom edgcs of the mirror, and suspcnded upon said-surface, and securing the mirror against the surface by placing aplurality of masses of premura-sensitive, permanently tacky adhesivematerial at spaced locations between the back of the minor and saidsurface.

10. A mcthod of hanging a minor upon a vertical surfz1ce, whichcomprises placing a flat, wide strip aiong thc baci: of the minor Withthe strip extcnding ver-ticaily and centraily of the mirror, engagingtabs of the strip about the top and bottom edges of the mirror,suspending the strip upon said surface to support the wcight of themirror, and interposing a pluraiity ci masses of pressuresensitive,pcrmanently tacky adh-esive materal between the back of said minor andsaid surface at spaced locations in order to maintain said minor againstsaid surface.

111. A mcthod of hanging a minor upon a vcrtical surface, whichcomprises placing a flat, flexible, wide, strip upon the back of saidminor With the strip extcnding verticaliy and centraliy of said minor,cngaging tabs of said strip about the top and bottom edges of saidminor, placing a pluraiity of piecos of adhesive-faced tape across saidstrip at spaced iocations along its length, suspending said strip uponsaid surface, and securing said minor against said surface With apiurality of masses of pressure-sensitive, permanently tacky adhesive atspaced locations between the back of said minor and said surface.

Reterences Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 881,661 3/1908Burnard 248-28 1,196,332 8/1916 Cabeil 40-124 1,357,280 11/1920 Dulle248-28 1,495,485 5/1924 Jersemann 248-401 2,723,815 11/1955 Browning248-29 FOREIGN PATENTS 654,890 7/1951 Great Britain.

730,826 6/1955 Grcat Britain.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

I. P. FOSS, Assistmzt Examiner.

1. THE METHOD OF SUPPORTING A MIRROR UPON A DOOR, COMPRISING PLACINGAGAINST THE BACK OF THE MIRROR A FLAT STRIP HAVING A HOOK AT THE TOP ENDAND HAVING SPACED TABS, ENGAGING SAID TABS OVER THE TOP AND BOTTOM EDGESOF THE MIRROR, PLACING ADHESIVE BETWEEN THE BACK OF THE MIRROR AND THEOPPOSING SURFACE OF THE DOOR, PLACING SAID HOOK OVER THE TOP OF SAIDDOOR, AND PRESSING SAID ADHESIVE BETWEEN THE MIRROR AND THE DOOR.